The NS wrestling season has come to an end with the team taking 16
wrestlers to state, with Dalton Anderson taking second and Luis Rodriguez
taking fifth.

The state tournament is double elimination, and although 16
students made it to the tournament, only four advanced to the second day.

“We had two division champions this year,” said head coach Bryan
Strain. “We had four in the top four, and 16 qualify for state. The team this
year came a long way—they made some turns, did the right things when they needed to,
came together and it paid off.”

The team has worked hard to succeed this season, even though it
was a tough one.

“It’s been a very good and bad season at the same time,” Strain
said. “We’ve had to deal with a lot of loss and overcome some pretty steep
obstacles.”

The team lost some wrestlers to injury, poor choices and the team
lost a close friend and previous wrestler during the season as well, requiring
the team to put in the work to be successful.

“We had our ups and our downs, and we overcame a lot of adversity
to be at state,” junior Adrian Lemus said.

In addition to these obstacles, those who took eighth had a
disadvantage because they had to wrestle the number one seed from the other
division in the first round.

“The goal for me as a coach this year has just to see kids reach
their potential, and we’re seeing it,” Strain said. “There are some individuals
who didn’t think they were going to be in the running for anything and they
are, and that’s what you want to see as a coach.”

Anderson and Rodriguez both placed first at region, putting them
in a good seed at state.

“I wish I had a better mental game,” Anderson said. “I thought I
wasn’t going to be that great. This is only my second year wrestling, so I
didn’t think I was going to do good, but I’ve clearly proven myself wrong.”

While only two placed at state, the coaches and team are very
proud of their hard work.

“The team has matured a lot,” Strain said. “They’ve come together
as individuals and as a team. They’ve put in a lot of hard work. They’ve really
bought into the fact that their hard work is going to pay off and that they can
achieve their goals.”

Just making it to state wasn’t enough. The wrestlers practiced
hard, even having a couple two-a-days the week before.

“I had to put in a lot of extra work with my friends and my
brothers on top of practice to make it to state,” Rodriguez said.

They continued to use their defeats as fuel for them to get
better.

“They’ve continued to get better every week and have worked on the
things they needed to become better,” Strain said. “We’ve won matches that we
lost earlier in the season.”

They are sad the season is coming to an end, but it was a
successful and fun season for the team.